This site has been created by Johnny Boehler. I have always had a passion to express my views to others so we will give it a shot. "The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer"

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Men of a Certain Age has been cancelled by TNT. One of my Top 5 best shows!

Nebraska actor Justin Bruening will reprise his role as Kamie Martin on "All My Children." He grew up near St. Helena and went to school in Wynot, Nebraska.

Now on to sports. Scott Frost wants to be a head coach when the time is right. He is now receivers coach at Oregon and he will be speaking to the Coaches Assn this week.

Rivals.com has named its Top Ten in the Big Ten players. DE Jared Crick and LB Lavonte David are on this list. Both are great players and will anchor the Nebraska defense this year. David and Crick have a chance to both be All-Americans. Without injuries, these two will go down as two of the best in Husker history. Both are seniors this year.

Denard Robinson (QB) from Michigan, Montee Ball (RB) Wisconsin, Reilly Reif (OT) Iowa, Edwin Baker (RB) Michigan St., Shaun Prater (S) Iowa, Michael Brewster (Center) Ohio State, Jerel Worth (DT) Michigan St. and Dan Persa (QB) Northwestern are the other eight. Prater played high school football in Omaha. He is a senior. Persa and Brewster are the other seniors otherwise the other five players are juniors.

Its hard to believe that Rex Burkhead is off the list. Watch for Taylor Martinez to challenge for all conference. His game last year against Oklahoma St. was the BEST I have ever seen from a quarterback at Nebraska. If he is injury free, watch out.

Rivals also predicts Wisconsin to win the Leaders Division and Nebraska the Legends Division.

Nebraska defensive line coach John Papuchis is one of this writer's favorite coaches. He expects to play five to nine players this fall. Papuchis says Crick's best football is ahead of him and he hasn't reached his potential yet. He also praised Cameron Meredith. He is fully recovered from his shoulder injury and has improved himself in the off-season.

Coach Tim Beck is very excited about the speed the running backs have this year and the incoming players will contribute.

Coach Beck said there will be five to seven players that will get a look as kick and punt returners this fall. Some will be freshmen and my guess is that Jamal Turner or Aaron Green will get the nod.

Coach Beck said that offensive linemen Tyler Moore and Jake Cotton and receivers Jamal Turner and Kenny Bell were his biggest surprises coming out of spring ball.

Coach Papuchis said that defensive ends Eric Martin and Jason Ankrah, safety Austin Cassidy, and defensive back Justin Blanchard were his biggest surprises.

The two back offensive is the biggest difference between the Big 10 and the Big 12 according to Papuchis.

Jennifer Lopez is near a deal to do another season of American Idol.

No deal on the debt ceiling yet. Good grief! Cut expenses and save our children and grand children.

The NFL is near an agreement. Hopefully tomorrow. We will see soon how much the season is shortened.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tyler Gabbert who once committed to Nebraska, is now without a team. Tyler, Blaine Gabbert's brother, left Missouri and recently said he was going to Louisville. Louisville is where Shawn Watson, the former Nebraska offensive coordinator, is coaching.Tyler Gabbert, who was thought to be the next starter at Nebraska until he got beat out this spring then left Louisville after a week. Missouri does not want him back as of now.

Zac Lee has signed a Pro deal with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He is one of three quarterbacks listed on the team. The Locomotives still have Chase Clements (RICE), who led them to the championship last year.

The Royals lost again tonight 8-4 to the Twins. Alex Gordon was 1-4 and is batting .299.

Taylor Martinez is listed as the No. 5 quarterback in the Big 10 this year. Kirk Cousins, from Michigan St., is listed No. 1.

Eric Crouch has signed with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. We will watch his progress closely. Omaha also has Maurice Purify, Mike Smith, Jay Moore, and Anthony West plus others trying to make the team. Taking Huskers will help team support.

The Cox Classic will have John Hurley, the former O'Neill High School graduate. Hurley has graduated now from Texas A & M and is trying to move up to the pros. He is known for his 400 yard drives.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Nebraska is now an official member of the Big 10. Something new and something exciting.

Lots of memories remain from the Big 12. There were some great games and great competition in all sports. Nebraska had much success, but didn't dominate. Oh yes we have had great football teams. Our volleyball team has been National Champs. Our women's basketball team was one of the nation's best a couple of seasons ago. Rifle and bowling have done well. The track teams are towards the top each year. Our baseball and softball teams have competed well in the past. Competition in the Big 12 was really good.

In football, most of the rivals were created by "chip on our shoulder" type of attitude. Colorado developed this against Nebraska in the early 80's and hated Nebraska. They proclaimed Nebraska their "rival". Missouri did somewhat the same. The old Big Eight was the best. Much better than the Big 12.

We had much success with Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State but they won some big games also. Sometimes those losses hurt much more.

Oklahoma was our rivalry. I think it started with Nebraska have a "chip" because we couldn't beat them. They found a way to beat us almost every year until the 90's when we dominated the series. It was a great rivalry but sadly the Big 12 broke it up.

Now on to the Nebraska fans. Once known as the country's best for some reason we aren't much different than most other fans. Yes, Nebraska football is the only game in town so we only route for one team, generally, but the complaining has raised to an annoying level.

Let's take Texas. The Texas players like playing at Nebraska. I think the Nebraska players like playing Texas. But because of the "conspiracy" that Texas gets what they want, the fans complain and gripe about everything. Texas does have money and they like the power but we would too if we had the resources they have.

The last half of last year was the worst. After the Texas A & M game, every time a ref threw a flag most of the fans would yell and boo. Pretty sad. Show some class. Hopefully this will get much better this year.

I am not sure how excited I will be this year going to watch out games with new opponents, but I do want them to win. I think this alone will raise the level of Nebraska's fans' class. We want to win! But if somebody beats us two years in a row, I hope we don't start feeling there is a "conspiracy" to beat us and we develop a "chip". Some teams in the Big 10 will be able to beat us. It should be great competition.

A real rivalry may be when there is a hate-hate relationship. Texas never hated Nebraska but we may grow to hate Iowa and Iowa hate us. This would then become a great rivalry. Wisconsin is a possibility also. We just want it to be fun.

I am a little worried that the Big 10 doesn't have the desire to make baseball a higher priority in the league. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Nebraska could push them to a higher level and this would be good for the league. Let's hope there is no league limits on scholarships for baseball.